Magma is France's band with the biggest influence on Anglo-American dominated music of the modern era. A band that practically single-handedly founds a new genre of music and invents its own language for its vocals; a band whose members give themselves names like Zebëhn Straïn dë Ğeuštaah and give their songs titles like "Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh" - Magma is truly an exceptional phenomenon in the musical universe. And successful as never before.
Zeuhl is the name of said genre, to which numerous bands around the world can be attributed today. What Magma created starting in 1969 is often categorized as a side branch of progressive rock. But in the rhythmically tricky fusion music of the Frenchmen there are no less elements of jazz (in the style of a John Coltrane or Sun Ra), classical music (Carl Orff, Igor Stravinsky) as well as Eastern European folklore (for example in Magma's almost sacral choir songs).
The distinctive compositions of Magma mastermind Christian Vander are complemented by futuristic to philosophical content. In Kobaïan song lyrics, based on German and Slavic language chunks, it's about the fictional planet Kobaïa, about immigrants from Earth, about extraterrestrial world saviors. And, of course, the album cover, drawn for Magma by the Swiss H.R. Giger before Hollywood ennobled him with an Oscar for his "Alien" film design, fits the bill.
Text source and further information: https://batschkapp.tickets.de/de/tour/1001463-magma
